Abstract
Affective haptic interfaces are designed to influence one’s emotional and physiological state via the sense of touch, and may be applied as communication media to increase the sense of closeness. Recent research suggests that stimulation with physical warmth can enhance this interpersonal closeness: a physical-social warmth link. It is often suggested that this link may be particularly suitable for application in affective haptic interfaces, but the scientific evidence is inconclusive. In this work we investigated whether adding physical warmth to a communication medium—an interactive teddy bear —could increase social connectedness between remotely located interactants and could provide physiological comfort during stressful circumstances. Moreover, we investigated whether the warmth could best be presented to the users as a mere physical attribute of the medium or as mediated body heat; thereby manipulating the attribution of the warmth to either a non-social or social source. The results of two studies in which participants ostensibly received a message from an unknown other (Study 1, textit{N} = 65) or comforting messages from their own partner (Study 2, textit{N} = 62), and meta-analyses did not provide support for the hypotheses that warmth, purely physical or attributed to one’s partner, can positively influence one’s social and physiological state. Although future research should corroborate our findings, they indicate that the physical-social warmth link may not be as applicable in affective mediated communication as suggested.
Highlights
Over the years, a plethora of computer mediated communication (CMC) devices and applications has been developed to address humans’ innate need for social connectedness and intimacy [8]
We investigated three dimensions that have extensively been investigated in research on the physical-social warmth link and that were deemed relevant for affective CMC
Based on the results from our studies and meta-analyses, which could not confirm any of the hypotheses, as well as on the doubts and criticism regarding the suggested physicalsocial warmth link, we conclude that physical warmth does not have clear beneficial effects with regard to feelings of social connectedness, social warmth, or comfort in a setting of CMC
Summary
To achieve more intimate CMC, interfaces that modulate one’s emotions via the sense of touch [32] could be suitable. Perceptions of Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces (2018) 12:329–344 physical warmth can activate perceptions of ‘social warmth’ (i.e., the experience of being connected to another) [47,102]: a physical-social warmth link. In practice this means that holding warm objects, or residing in relatively warm environments, may activate pro-social behaviors and cognitions [44] and decrease feelings of loneliness [6]. The warmth is described to the participant either as a mere physical, non-social quality of the interface, or as (social) warmth that represents the sender’s body heat
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